Ask American Profile

Avril Lavigne, Kitaro, Tiffani Thiessen

I’m wondering when Avril Lavigne’s next album is coming out. She is one of my favorite singers.
—Cassie J., South Dakota

The 17-year-old singer recently started her first major tour behind her current album, Let Go, and no release date has been set for another album. For one, she’s got to find the time to write some new songs for it. Success has made her extremely busy—doing interviews, appearing on TV, and performing on one award show after another. A lot has happened in a short time for the Napanee, Ontario, native, who says she always knew she wanted to sing. From belting out songs at the top of her lungs as a kid in her bedroom, she moved on to singing gospel at church and country at fairs and talent shows. She taught herself how to play guitar when she was 12, and before long was making trips to New York City to pursue her music career. Discovered at the age of 16, she was signed by Arista Records and started work on her first album. She writes her own songs, too. “I never worry about what others think,” she says. “I’m gonna dress what’s me, I’m gonna act what’s me, and I’m gonna sing what’s me.” Her insistence on staying true to herself has paid off. Let Go has sold more than 4 million copies.

What can you tell me about the musician Kitaro? Where can I buy his CDs?
—Betty M., Oregon.

The composer and performer, who plays multiple instruments, is having a big year so far. His An Ancient Journey CD has been nominated for a Grammy for Best New Age Album, and his newest effort, Best of Silk Road, was released in February. He just completed a tour in China in 2002. Kitaro, among the best-known of New Age musicians, was born into a Buddhist/Shintoist farming family in Japan. He credits his rural youth with giving him a feel for nature. Kitaro gained a following in Japan in 1980 when he created the music to Silk Road, a documentary about the overland trade route from Japan to Europe. His American audience grew in 1985 with the simultaneous release of several of his compilations. Nominated several times for a Grammy, he won the award for 2001 Best New Age Album for Thinking of You. He also won a Golden Globe for his score for Oliver Stone’s Heaven and Earth, the final movie in a trilogy about Vietnam. His music can be purchased anywhere that sells Domo Records, or you can buy directly from the record company at www.domo.com.

My favorite actress is Tiffani Amber-Thiessen. Can you tell me what she is currently involved in and a little about her background and private life?
—Michael M., New Mexico

First, the 29-year-old actress has dropped the “Amber” and goes by Tiffani Thiessen. You can catch her on the show, Fastlane, on Fox, in which she plays an undercover cop opposite Peter Facinelli, who just happens to be married to her best friend and Beverly Hills 90210 colleague Jennie Garth. She’s engaged to actor Richard Ruccolo, who she met when she worked on the now-defunct series Two Guys and a Girl. A native of Long Beach, Calif., she started modeling at age 8, and won the Miss Junior America pageant at age 13. She got her big acting break when she was cast as a good-girl cheerleader in the teen show Saved By The Bell, and years later proved herself as an adult actress playing the vixenish bad girl Valerie in Beverly Hills 90210. A longtime fan of kickboxing and karate, she gets to use some of her moves in the new series.

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